


Come Out Into the Light

by emerald1963



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi is scared to come out to the team, Akaashi really really loves Bokuto, Bokuto wants him to feel better, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I suck at titles, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 23:46:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3588429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emerald1963/pseuds/emerald1963
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I want the whole world to know that Akaashi Keiji loves me and I love him too. I want it in every newspaper in the world in the biggest font they have. I want to scream it until my lungs give out.” </p>
<p>In which Akaashi is terrified and Bokuto is his rock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Out Into the Light

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! I posted this on my [Tumblr](http://www.oikawatooruinedmylife.tumblr.com) as a response to a prompt meme. An anon sent in a request for Bokuaka and "No one needs to know" and this is what came out of it. I thought I should put it on AO3 to keep my writing organized. I hope you guys enjoy!

This is one of those times when Keiji doesn’t mind Bokuto abusing his captain’s privilege. He called an “extra special secret captain-vice-captain meeting” in the middle of practice, after one too many long glances at the place where Keiji’s shorts ended and revealed his legs. The meeting confused Keiji a little, but everything made sense when the locker room door swung shut and Bokuto grabbed Keiji’s face in his hands and proceeded to kiss him breathless. They should really be practicing, Keiji knows- Bokuto’s receives have been subpar these past few weeks- but, well, Bokuto’s lips are soft and he smells like sweat and citrus shampoo, and Keiji thinks they can spare another few minutes.

His good mood abruptly vanishes when Bokuto pulls back from the kiss and asks the question Keiji’s been trying to avoid for the whole month they’ve been dating. “Hey, Akaashi, why do we have to keep sneaking around like this? Why can’t we just tell the team we’re dating?”

Keiji stiffens in guilt, his arms inadvertently squeezing Bokuto’s waist, as he searches for the right words to answer the question. 

The silence stretches on a few beats too long and Keiji feels Bokuto wilt in his arms. “Akaashi, are you ashamed of me?” he asks, slowly bringing his hands down from where they’ve been cupping Keiji’s cheeks. His gold eyes burn, huge and a few shades darker than normal.

A bolt of horror slams into Keiji at the idea that he’s acted in a way that could make Bokuto think such things of him. “ _Never_ , Bokuto-san,” voice coming out more forceful and less controlled than he meant it to. “I could never be ashamed of you. It’s just…” He lets out a long sigh and moves to sit down on the locker room bench. Bokuto follows him, but leaves a slight distance between the two of them as he sits down gingerly next to Keiji. After another pause, Keiji gathers his thoughts and continues. “I’m afraid. I’m afraid it will hurt our team dynamic. But mostly I’m afraid they’ll think less of us once they know we’re…” He trails off.

“Gay?” Bokuto finishes for him. Keiji nods, feeling a little humiliated that he can’t even say the word. It’s just still a new idea for him. He never had any interest in girls, but he always assumed he was just too young and it would come eventually. He never even suspected that he might be into guys instead until a few months ago when he was watching Bokuto celebrate a successful spike and suddenly realized just how much he wanted to kiss the ace. It’s still such a new and slightly uncomfortable notion that he has trouble applying it to himself, slotting it into his self-identity. 

Bokuto scoots closer to him and puts an arm around his shoulders. “Don’t be worried, Akaashi!” he says earnestly. “We’re already dating and it hasn’t changed the team at all. Your tosses are even better now, I think! Not that they weren’t already awesome! I mean, they were always perfect!” he adds hurriedly, and Keiji has to smile at how desperate Bokuto is to correct any imagined offense. “But we connect even better on the court now! The team knowing about it won’t change anything. And they’re all good guys, they won’t think any differently of us!”

Keiji sighs, wishing he could have the unshakable trust in his teammates that Bokuto does. “I hope so, Bokuto-san, but it’s so hard to know.” He searches for the right words again. “Maybe if we were somewhere else, but here in Japan… Well.” He takes a deep breath, because this is hard to talk about. He’s never told anyone before, actually, but Bokuto deserves to know. “You know my parents. They’re nice, right?”

Bokuto nods- he’s been to Keiji’s house a few times, although mostly before they started dating. “Your parents are awesome, Akaashi!”

“I love my parents,” Keiji continues, but if I came out to them it would probably end up with my having no place to live.” He can feel his heartbeat like a sick thud in his stomach as he remembers the constant stream of little comments he’s heard when his father’s watching TV or when gay couples pass by on the street- “ _fairy, queer,_ ” and other, worse words. The next words fly out in a rush. “They love me, but if I told them about us I don’t know if they would anymore. That’s why I’m scared, Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto is silent and still for a minute, then his arms are around Keiji and his face is buried in Keiji’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Akaashi,” he says, the words muffled by the folds of Keiji’s uniform. Keiji can feel Bokuto’s voice resonate through his shoulder and into his core and his bones. “I had no idea. That’s so awful. But you still go out with me anyway, even though you’re risking so much? You’re so brave, Akaashi. You’re amazing.”

“I love you, Bokuto-san,” Keiji answers simply. “It’s worth it.” He’s never once doubted that.

“I understand now,” Bokuto says, lifting his face from Keiji’s shirt. “No one needs to know. We don’t have to tell the team if you’re not ready.”

“I do want to tell them,” Keiji says. “Fukurodani is a family to me. And I know you want to tell them too.” He’s seen how hard hiding this has been on Bokuto, every time he droops as his hand half-reaches for Keiji’s before he remembers and pulls back. Bokuto is not a man meant for secrets.

“I really do, Akaashi,” Bokuto says, and Keiji doesn’t think that anyone else in the world has a tone of voice like this, with so much honesty and earnestness compressed into every syllable he speaks. “I want the whole world to know that Akaashi Keiji loves me and I love him too. I want it in every newspaper in the world in the biggest font they have. I want to scream it until my lungs give out.” He smiles crookedly and Keiji’s heart overflows. “But as long as you really do love me, that doesn’t matter. Every second with you feels like I just scored the winning spike at Nationals. That’s all I want.”

“Bokuto-san…” Keiji’s cheeks flush and he wonders if Bokuto knows the effect that his simple honest words have on Keiji. It’s sort of like being hit by a truck, but in the best possible way. Keiji agrees with Bokuto, really- as long as he has Bokuto here to comfort him and kiss him and brighten his world in every possible way, nothing else matters.

When he catches himself thinking those words, he knows he’s ready.

“Bokuto-san,” he says again, “Let’s tell the team.”

“Really? Aw man, are you sure?” A smile grows on Bokuto’s face like spring melting the last of winter’s snow. 

“I’m sure,” Keiji says, an answering smile on his face. “I trust them. And you trust them.” He doesn’t really know why he’s not scared anymore- nothing’s really changed. Fukurodani could still turn on them, if they’re unlucky. But Bokuto has chased the darkness out of the corners of his heart, as he so often does. He feels safe, secure, invincible. As long as they face this together, nothing could possibly hurt them.

They leave the locker room hand in hand. Keiji feels strength rush into him from that point of contact. Warmth and sunshine spread up his right arm from their clenched hands and then through the rest of his body. 

“HEY HEY HEY, EVERYONE, WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!” Bokuto shouts at the top of his lungs.

Keiji winces and rubs his right ear with his left hand to try to restore some hearing. “Indoor voice, Bokuto-san,” he reminds his captain. The rest of the gym turns to look at them, balls falling unattended- at least Bokuto’s shout was effective. 

“Good news, I hope?” asks Sarukui.

“It’s the _best_ news,” says Bokuto, slightly less loud this time but absolutely jubilant. “Guess what, everyone? Akaashi Keiji loves me and I love him too!” Much to Keiji’s surprise, Bokuto suddenly grabs him and dips him at the waist into a passionate fairytale kiss.

There’s dead silence for a fraction of a second, and then something Keiji never expected- the gym breaks out into applause and cheers. He can hear a few scattered yells of “Congratulations!” and Komi’s shout of “FINALLY!”

As they disengage from the kiss, Keiji scolds Bokuto halfheartedly- “That was a little overdramatic, don’t you think, Bokuto-san?”- but he thinks the ear-splitting grin on his face diminishes the impact a little. 

As Keiji comes out of the dip and turns to face his team, he sees that every face is stretched into a warm grin. “We’re so happy for you guys,” Komi says. “We thought you were never going to figure it out, honestly.”

“We were going to start a betting pool on when you’d get together, but Sarukui wouldn’t let us,” chimes in Konoha.

“Which I’m now regretting because I definitely would have won, but it seemed too disrespectful,” explains Sarukui.

“You mean you all knew already?” Keiji says incredulously. Was there really nothing to worry about this whole time?

“No offense, but Bokuto’s about as subtle as a brick when he likes someone,” Komi says. “We’ve known since you joined the team, pretty much.”

“Oh,” is all Keiji can think to say. He looks around at his team and his boyfriend and the glows on all their faces and feels a responding glow build in his heart. It feels like love. It feels like family. It feels like home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Again, I'm over at [oikawatooruinedmylife](http://www.oikawatooruinedmylife.tumblr.com) if you have questions, comments, or prompts for me! My spring break just started so I have plenty of time to write :)  
> I should be posting a few more of these up here in the next couple days; hopefully you all enjoy those too.  
> Speaking of writing, if you're following my Iwaoi multichap fic, When You Wish Upon a Star, I swear chapter 3 is coming out tonight or tomorrow. Sorry to keep you waiting!


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